The Moser Position
For my money, the best slice of cycling video ever is Francesco Moser, appearing out of the dust, in the 1976 Paris-Roubaix. He blasts by the moto camera on the right, on a mission to get up to the front. Something about him appearing, then almost disappearing down the road. What was that? And there it is, the Moser position. His torso is pulled down low. If you want to go that fast you have to get that low. Back in the day, your frame size was directly correlated to your inseam, period. There were no slammed -17 degree stems or long seatposts. If you wanted to get aero you just had to bend at the hips and elbows, a lot.
Getting low is one thing, generating huge power from that position is something else, something Moser excelled at. Lo Sceriffo was not a man to be underestimated. In this excerpted video from A Sunday in Hell, Moser is powering up towards the winning break of four riders: Roger De Vlaeminck, Marc Demeyer, Walter Godefroot, and Hennie Kuiper (all former or future P-R winners). It is an all star break of Belgian-Dutch hardness and Moser bridges quickly. The winner was going to come from this group but it was not Moser’s year nor was the next edition so he made up for it by winning the next three consecutive Paris-Roubaix.
To see Moser powering up the side of the pavé like that, it’s some sort of poetry that captures just about everything I love about cycling.
The Moser scene plays out around 9:10 into the clip, but as always, it is pure pleasure to watch what leads up to it.
Great lead photo, and it’s still a bidon attached to the cage on his bike.
@Haldy
I swear these guys were harder than than Boonen or Cancellara.
@Gianni
They ALL were harder!
The dry, unemotional narrative on the video sure contrasts with the over the top excitement which is the current commentators’ style.
And yes, @ebruner they were all harder. Way harder.
Moser may have been Italian, but he knew how to ride all Belgian.
Is it an old school bar style thing? I still feel more comfortable in the Belgian Drops (if Belgian Compact can be a thing, I’m making Belgian Drops a thing too) than in the Actual Drops. Maybe it’s my 183 cm frame, it doesn’t like to bend down that far for long periods of time. Also my elbows stay in better and I’d hate to look like a spider humping a lightbulb.
@Owen
It is, in my very humble opinion, a mix of different things. On modern bikes the bars are different, the drop from saddle to bars is more pronounced, and the brifters make changing gears in the drop more awkward.
But yeah, when you go into the drops you are generally in the least comfortable position. The drops are here to go fast, not to be comfortable…even then it was the case.
But i am a retrougrouch whose number 1 is a 78 gazelle fitted Eddy Merckx style and i have a strong dislike of most modern bikes, so i am bias….
@LeBelge
I should just point the bike downhill so I run out of gears and the shifting becomes irrelevant. Also, I used to have a Gazelle. Not sure what happened to it…
@Owen
If the gazelle was a champion mondial, its sad since they are worth quite a bit of money right now…and ride like only a good Reynolds steel frame can.
And to not be totally off-topic: Fransesco Moser was a stud. Proof that you don’t need tyo be flemish to be a flandrien. Perhaps it is because i come from the flat part of Wallonia, were hills are rare, and cobblestones part of the infrastructure, but for me only that type of guy look really fantastic on a bike, with a few exceptions.
When I opened up Velominati today I saw this photo of Moser, and I thought of a word. The word is awesome.
@EBruner
I would agree. Being “harder” is a mental state. And the racing was more difficult back then. Remember, back then the riders often smoked cigarettes, rarely trained in the off season(many because they had to work blue collar jobs to feed the family) , etc. Today, the advances in tech, especially training and “supplements” plus equipment has combined to make riders better prepared for the stresses of racing.
@fignons barber
And when was the fastest ever Paris-Roubaix?
@Gianni
Ha! Look at that!!! I can post!!! The Gods of IT at West Point updated my system this morning and voila! I’m back!!! Anyways, Yes, they were way fucking harder. Jesus, not doubt. The only reason we even begin to question if they were is b/c Boonen and Sparty stand out in todays puff peloton b/c they are so hard IN COMPARISON to the Schlecks and Froome’s of today’s elite. If we took Hookers and Blow back to the ’70’s, he could rid ewith them, but I doubt he’d have 4 PR and 3 RVV to his name. Maybe, and only maybe, one of each, in my opinion. But God DAMN! What a photo! I must say though, I always have had a tiny bit of dislike for Moser with how he “stole” his Giro from Fignon, whether he had anything to do with the helicopter or not. Still, HARD man for sure.
This whole thing is a gigantic tease smack dab in the middle of winter.
I always have that “it’s the most wonderful time of the year” song playing in my head come Holy Week. Myself: praying for rain.
@RobSandy
1964, on an altered course with only half the cobbled sections and a 35mph tail wind for virtually the whole race. Point?
Speaking of hardness, I was thinking about this the other day since we’re having a serious cold streak for this area…
In quite cold conditions, guys used to race with bare legs and maybe toss on a hat and some winter gloves. Now most of the racers come out of the bus looking like Randy after his mom dresses him for school. Skull caps, neck warmers, windproof jerseys, windproof gloves, full leg warmers, and oversocks.
How can there be such an insane difference? How did the racers used to do it? (and I do know about Hinault and his hand issues from the cold)
Along these lines, I was riding home from work on Monday and well covered, as it was around -4. Dude rides by in bib shorts and a LS jersey, that was it. Good god, my legs were cold with full leg warmers. I really don’t know how he was riding like that, legs looked devoid of embrocation too.
So much awesomeness in this post and I never tire of watching a Sunday in Hell. To wit: at 1:40 the Jobo rider’s head injury – I swear you can see his skull through that gash on his forehead. The Ijsboerke mechanic sitting oh-so-casually on the back of the team car. Raymond Poulidor is still mixing it up with the kids at the age of 40! (Born in 1936, he turned pro in 1960.) And, of course, Moser’s style. He was a top track man – won the world pursuit championship in 76. Top time-triallist too. That’ll get your position aero.
@Ron
A lot of the old school guys came from rural background. Farmers tend to be a lot outside, and it harden you.
Plus they didn’t have central heating like now. They were generally in colder temp. all year long since birth, which help.
I have a school friend who didn’t have central heating at home, just a coal stove. He would come to school in t-shirt when people where donning their winter jackets.
@fignons barber
I didn’t know that about less cobbles and the wind. They were still hard back then, regardless.
I don’t come onto Velominati to let facts stand in the way of my opinions.
@LeBelge
Good points. Knew a guy in college who wore shorts year-round and we had some pretty damn cold winters. I grew up in a cold climate and now have been in a much warmer climate for around 5 years. I’ve definitely lost my ability to withstand really cold temperatures, like I used to be able to handle.
It absolutely blows my mind how many people keep their houses heated at tropical temperatures. I find it uncomfortable, but I find it more uncomfortable to think about how many non-renewable resources are chewed up because bastards want to go around in shorts and t-shirts all year long. Nobody scrapes their car windows here either, they just turn the car on for 15 minutes. Goddamn. Many people in my neighborhood also work at the university, which is all of 2 kms away. Despite the location, I’m the only person who walks or rides a bike. Even the fucking undergrads at a “green” university, as they bill themselves, drive. Most live in group houses and I’ll see all six drive separately a few minutes apart. Lovely to see the next generation act so eco-friendly.
“Moser, with his distinctive style, his still, aerodynamic position on the bicycle is an imposing sight of almost effortless rotary action.”
@RobSandy
This! If I could, it would be a +1 for you good sir.
I flat out love Paris Roubaix and I really love the ’12 PR when Mr. Boonen blasted away with maybe 50km remaining and finished on his own with avg speed of something like 45+kph over the race distance. WOW! That was really the race when I thought to myself that this high def televised cycling is very very cool. That cat was a monster at the end just powering away with his hands draped over the bars and the camera right there.
@Buck Rogers
Bucky, where you been? We missed you.
You know these guys were tougher from the gears they pushed, hauling through the Alps with a 42 x 21 as the granny gear. Faaaaaaack. I’m embarrassed at my current gearing. Oh well. I ain’t no Moser.
@TheVid
I second that.
@wiscot
Yep, the whole film is a killer. I love seeing RDV killing it at the front of that foursome and Demeyer getting on his wheel to draft because that is the wheel you need to be on in Paris-Roubaix. And so much carnage, no gloves, no helmets, no whining. Awesome.
@LeBelge
I remember watching some Spring Classic many years ago. A clear day, just above freezing, and there is some Dutch hardass with no gloves at all. It really impressed me. You know these guys are a different breed when you see things like that.
@Gianni
Oi!!! For some unknown (but most probably very, very good) reason, I was not able to comment on the V site from work for around the last year. Fucking painful. You know me, I cannot be in a room and not be chatting constantly! I finally went to the IT Gods late summer and told them that something was up in regards to this problem. In their infinite wisdom, they put me on the list of priorities (it would seem right at the bottom) and today I found out that they had updated my system over night and I could post again!
Halle-fuckin-lujah!!!
The Stars of late seem to be aligning for me in regards to the bike and ergo in life as well!
@Haldy
This is one of my favorite Cycling photos ever. So much Awesome going on here. Teeth gritting; hair back in the wind; a back so flat you could eat your fucking dinner off it. And those sideburns. Look at the fucking angle of his wrists!
@Buck Rogers
Welcome back! Plus ca change, c’est plus la meme chose.
@Matt
Here’s what I think is the same exact spot of that race from another angle-
Well..okay..maybe not the exact same moment given the different leg position, but definitely the same race
@Ron
I’m taking a guess here, body fat back then maybe ~10%, nowadays 5%?
@Haldy
Front skewer at exactly 90* for Maximum Aero Effect. Rear skewer bisecting the angle created by the chain and seat stays, as God intended. White socks at the perfect height.
Fucking hell. RDV laying down The Rules eons before I was to swing my leg over a top tube. Beautiful.
@Buck Rogers
Fuck and I knew something was missing around here but I just couldn’t fekin place it.
All this talk of Roubaix has me thinking… What’s the word on the Keepers’ Tour this year, @Frank?
This is inspirational as just last Friday I signed up for the 6th edition of the Belgian Waffle Ride here in San Diego County. It’s my 2nd attempt and my goal this year is to get to the oasis before the girls leave and to the finish before the beer garden closes.
This post and video brought back memories as it’s now almost 40 years since the 1976 P-R race. 1976 was the year I bought my first pro bike – an Alan Super Record / Nuovo Record. Still have it in fact.
I know, it’s not quite the same, but: https://vimeo.com/148125421 Training in January has had some hints of Flandrian weather at least as well as some unridable trails due to mud.
Yay, Buck’s back, baby!
there’s a lot to like in ‘a sunday on hell’. 4.00-6.40 aint bad for starters. he who is god arrives… looking as cool as da king cat… then de Vlaeminck’s guns (bumps where only one who is rock hard can have them) and taking care of Mr Merckx’s set-up… yeah… to the micrometre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBTVU9JDrA
@Oli
Well FUCK me!!! Oli’s back as well! When I was banished to the wasteland ages ago you had not been around in a long while! When did you get back?
Hell, this is like a family reunion or something. Granted it’s a bucktoothed, inbred, coming-out-of-the-hills family reunion but a family reunion still the same!
@Buck Rogers
BUCK!
@Matt
And not to mention that the Brooklyn jerseys are flat out perfect. Period. I love ’em. Cheers.
@Haldy
Okay, so, we know that the Brooklyn jersey is perfect. A special edition in red white and blue? More perfect. Now, does anyone think for a second that we need sublimated red white and blue shorts to make this work?!? NO! Black shorts and a Brooklyn jersey? Most Perfect.
@LeBelge
I did once here Adam ‘Slamsen’ or Hansen (its one of those two) describe the drops as the resting position.
….almost effortless rotary action…. love that phrase :)
I am partial to the slo-mo of Godefroot from around 8:09. It epitomizes the confluence of grace and raw power on the pave.
@wilburrox
Your woman keeping her child safe from the viking raider is classic!
@wilburrox
Special edition? But they’re all red, white and blue?
@Oli
I always thought that the original was black and white? But then again